Froglet Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I'm struggling with what the "Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things." sentence means - especially the living things bit. I found that I hadn't got much evidence for this for my profiles this year and am worried that I'm over complicating what I'm looking and planning for. I have read the exemplification but am finding it difficult to 'translate' this to the current interests/theme. At the moment we're going down an undersea creatures route (having looked at pond creatures and frogs) but now they want to know about the sea. I was planning to read Tiddler (as a class favourite) and talk about the creatures in that as a starting point and have undersea creatures as a small world set up in the water tray and will note down any and all comments but I'm not sure if I've got the right idea. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I would imagine you have lots of info on this if you have had tadpoles around.....similarities and differences So things like "this tadpole hasn't got legs yet but this one has, it's changing into a frog and the other one will change too soon" or with us it's the snails in the garden (they always check to see if they are still alive!!) then they compare size,weight,colour, patterns on shell etc and describe the difference and similarities between them .....only my opinion of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildflowers Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I assumed that living things include plants and now had to look it up! A biology online dictionary says it does, so comparing trees, flowers, grasses etc, talking about their similarities and differences could be done. I assume it's the understanding of the concepts that we're looking for. (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catma Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 To get to the heart of the goals looking at the statutory curriculum helps: "Understanding of the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment." I think the explanatory note helps here: Explanatory note: The child has a curiosity and interest about the immediate environment around them and recognises when things have similar or different features. Whilst exploring through play and real experiences, the child shows their learning and understanding of living things, materials and objects. The child investigates, notices changes and interacts with elements of their natural and manufactured environment. He or she communicates about what is happening and why. Considering this goal is about how the child demonstrates this understanding.That part of it is about how they can make comparisons and notice patterns in what they observe or experience through their senses. Do they reflect on what is the same and what is different? Are they using vocabulary that reflects their understanding of the physical and natural world around them - do they for example use vocabulary that relates to materials around them, "this is softer than that so I'll use this instead", "oh look the pond has gone all hard and icy". When talking about different environments (the playground, their roads and houses, school...) can they make comparisons? There would be strong links with the skills found in Speaking ELG 03 "They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events." SCSA ELG 06 "They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas," and I would look at this evidence from ELG 14 to support judgements in the other 2 as well. These are a couple of the bits from the exemplification that fit this element I think. In them the children are demonstrating that they can make comparisons between things they have observed and experienced - p6 Finlay and the eggs are objects, P3 the one talking about doors on the IWB as doors are places/environments, P3 exploring the octopus and the fish are (dead) living things and William with the magnets would cover materials. (All near the start of the first download.) Cx 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froglet Posted June 24, 2013 Author Share Posted June 24, 2013 Thank you for the feedback everyone, I think I'm feeling clearer. I think I was just having a bit of moment and it was early! I do find it difficult to plan clear objectives for UW stuff sometimes and can end up putting things like "To identify similarities and differences between living things." which is really just too vague - maybe this is where I really need to focus my work for next year! :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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